


One Last Day Aboard the Unity Colony

by Zeria



Category: Original Work
Genre: Mecha, Non-binary character, Other, Romance, SO, Some death and stuff I guess, female main character, it's a war, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 08:21:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18735226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeria/pseuds/Zeria
Summary: Rayna, a former war hero stranded aboard an insignificant colony, finds herself frustrated with the tedium her higher-ups have assigned her with, when an attack by a group she once knew throws her life into disarray.





	One Last Day Aboard the Unity Colony

_ Tick, tock. Tick, tock. _

Rayna woke up to the sound of the synthetic clock, wishing dreadfully that she could remove it from her wall. The artificial sun had risen and it was time to drag herself out of bed, never a fun task for her. Nevertheless, she pulled herself up, readjusting the sheets so that they’d look nice before walking over to her bathroom and staring at herself in the mirror.

_ Ugh, I look as awful as always, _ she thought.

Her eyes were as dead as usual, with thick, dark lines hanging underneath them, though aside from that, she actually looked quite nice. If she had cared to ask anyone as to their thoughts, they would’ve said she looked quite pretty. She didn’t care to ask, of course. With her rich brown skin, clean black hair, piercing blue eyes, and remarkably long legs — almost impossibly so, given her 5’7” stature — she had been complimented enough to last her another 5 lifetimes back when she had been in the spotlight.. If there was anything she enjoyed about being stuck on the colony, it was the fact that the couple thousand people all saw her frequently enough that they would leave her appearance alone and she certainly didn’t mind awing the occasional new girl.

Having finished brushing her teeth, she made her way to the meager, though certainly functional, closet. Sitting in the back, as always, was her specially-design UNION uniform, continuing to gather dust. She hadn’t needed to put it on since the last time the higher-ups demanded a propaganda film, filming the  _ oh-so-important _ tasks in which she was regularly taking part just so they could pretend they hadn’t abandoned their war hero. Of course, as soon as the footage was captured, the main UN forces departed, taking her Homunculus back with them, leaving her with nothing more than a, “Keep yourself in good health, Captain, we’ll be needing you again soon,” from her hated General Monsley.

It was all a joke. Captain? She’d led more people when she was a sergeant during the war and she’d had a grand total of two pilots under her watch back then. The claim that they “needed” her was even more sickening. Sure, they’d love to use her for yet another propaganda video, but beyond that, she’d just be stuck on this miserable little colony, left with nothing to do besides twiddle her thumbs and occasionally use her fingers for another purpose.

When the orders had first come down from UNION command that she was to be stationed there for the time being, she’d been ecstatic. It was one of the few colonies remaining in the Earth Sphere and one of a couple dozen left in the Solar System altogether. Only a couple million got to live with a direct view of Earth at all times; you had to be incredibly rich or incredibly important to be allowed to do so and Rayna had never expected for either to be the case. Alex would’ve been delighted at the prospect of living in a place like that. Those who assigned her there had praised her so much for being a hero, had claimed she was so vital to the UNION, that she actually managed to believe it, pushing all of the death to the back of her head.

But as time went on and she realized why they’d actually put her there, that feeling began to sink. A couple of weeks after arriving, she learned that she wasn't authorized to leave the colony unless there was urgent reason to do so. A few months later, she learned that visiting a hospitalized family member did not qualify as an “urgent reason” to leave. Eventually, she figured out the fact that she was actually stuck on the Unity Colony because she’d been a bad political tool for the commanders. She’d been a little  _ too _ committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,  _ too _ willing to make peace with the Coalition. The fact that she’d been “stationed” on this minor R&D base for 5 years with no chance to leave only made sense if she assumed that the bosses didn’t like how willful she was in those early interviews. They had clearly wanted a queen, but Rayna wasn't content to just be played; she wanted to influence the hand that moved the pieces. That had been her mistake.

Pushing all those thoughts to the back of her mind, she grabbed what was a fairly normal outfit for her: a pair of dark blue jeans, a basic black t-shirt, and her trademark red bomber jacket. It was comfortable, fashionable, and most of all, convenient. For as little as she enjoyed spending time around the colony at this point, she might as well look good while doing so; she didn’t want to lose her ability to pick up the occasional tourist or visiting relative.

Before walking out the door, she glanced over at the commemorative photo which hung on her wall, a picture taken just before the war’s final battle, sitting proudly in the cockpit of her Homunculus with Alex next to her, both of them beaming at the camera. It had been so easy back then to believe that her actions were enabling the greatest humanist organization in history to continue its mission. No matter what she’d gone through, she was still glad to have helped in the fight against the Coalition, nothing the UNION had done changed the fact that the Coalition was full of war criminals, but she was losing faith that the UNION itself was worth fighting on behalf of, though she’d never had much choice in the matter to begin with.

And oh, how she missed her Homunculus. Model number UNR-375R, she’d fought inside her Crimson Comet for a whole 3 years. She felt ambiguous about what she’d done with it, there was a bitterness to being nicknamed ‘the UNION’s Eulogist’, but she missed sitting in its comfortable frame, the power and strength she had found in extending her body beyond its birth-given limits and fighting with all the power she could muster out of the baby. The only time she’d been able to move her hands across its dashboard in the time since was for the propaganda videos. She couldn’t exactly enjoy the purity of their connection when General Monsley was shouting stage directions at her. More than anything else, that made her feel awful.

Turning her head away from the photo, she opened the door to her apartment and looked outside. To anyone who’d lived in other systems their entire life, the colony was a beautiful site. Sure, it had the same O’Neill design that most orbital units had, but given that this one existed for the sake of UNION R&D, it obviously had bells and whistles that the others didn’t. It was small, paling in size to those that could fit tens of millions but it was remarkably self-sufficient and boasted state-of-the-art features such as energy-neutral artificial lighting and a realistic fake sky. If every colony had tech like this, no one would waste the money to live planetside ever again, aside from Terrans. Once you got used to it though, it just got boring. Rayna only noticed its splendor nowadays when she got to thinking about how much Alex would love to live there, and she tried not to think about that very often. The only thing that was still a marvel to her was the beautiful view of Earth, but she didn’t even enjoy dwelling on that for too long, since she’d just get upset at the fact that her bosses would never give her the authorization to go down and experience it first-hand.

Picking up her pace, she left the housing district and began making her way down to the shopping district, trying to decide where she should grab lunch, which tended to be the only meaningful choice she made these days. She had some basic knowledge of how to cook — she took pride in her ability to live self-sufficiently — but she never had reason to given how many great places to get food there were. She didn’t have much time to ponder her decision, though, as her “subordinate”, Sergeant L’rath, came to speak to her.

“Captain Mathers, would you prefer Kelsenian cuisine today, or do you plan on getting some Terran fare?” the girl asked. Rayna had to admit that she found her somewhat cute, but she was almost always annoying as soon as she opened her mouth. She was a little too cloying to ever feel approachable and Rayna had the feeling she was mostly posted on the colony to ensure that she herself never did anything against UNION interests. Maybe she’d have a better opinion of the girl if she’d let her make simple decisions like where to eat in peace.

“I’m leaning towards Terran food today,” Rayna replied, putting on a friendly smile no matter how frustrated she was. It was a nice day after all, the weather monitors must’ve been in a good mood, and she didn’t want to ruin that by being snippy to a co-worker. “Was there anything else you’d like to discuss, Sergeant L’rath?”

“Yes, ma’am! At 4pm today, you’re to report directly to HQ for an important briefing! Colonel Woolf called it ‘the most vital meeting she will have had in the last 5 years’!”

“He’s said that every time I’ve had another video to film, but I’ll be there. Is that all, Sergeant?”

“Yes ma’am! I’ll leave you to your lunch!”

Saying this, she began to walk off in the other direction. Rayna hesitated for a moment — the slightly lonely look in the girl’s eyes made it seem like she wanted to eat with her but at the same time there was a significant chance that it would end up annoying her enough to ruin lunch.

_ Well, worst case scenario it’s a bit uncomfortable while I eat for the next 15 minutes, _ she thought.  _ It’s not like I get many chances to have conversations nowadays. _

“Sergeant, would you like to eat with me?” she asked.

The younger girl whipped around immediately, a smile beaming across her face.

_ Well at least  _ one _ of us will end up happy, _ Rayna thought.

The pair made their way to Rayna’s favorite Terran restaurant. It was a small place, one of a few in the colony not run directly by the government, and it rarely saw more than 5-10 patrons in any given hour as a result—other residents had expressed a strange weariness in regards to it, but Rayna couldn’t understand why. Without state subsidies, it probably wouldn’t be able to remain open with the traffic it saw. Rayna was one of the only people lobbying for the continuation of its subsidization and for once, the UNION’s desire to keep her placated seemed to pay off.

As soon as they got in the place, the Sergeant practically bounced over to the main counter and selected katsudon from the menu. Rayna took a bit longer to pick, ultimately settling for a plate of biscuits and gravy—it was a comforting taste to her, and if this was going to be a cumbersome conversation, comfort was something she could use an excess of.

The two of them simply sat around as they waited for the food to come, neither saying much at all. The look on the Sergeant’s face made it clear to Rayna that this was just that they mutually felt the awkwardness on display. Occasionally they’d have a short exchange about trivial subjects, but for how quickly the food was made, time seemed to pass remarkably slowly.

Once it finally came, the situation moved a lot smoother. Eating gave them more excuses to avoid talking, and more time to come up with points for actually meaningful conversation. For once, Rayna was having a fun time chatting with the girl. Unfortunately, the talk did not avoid going in a difficult direction, though not in the way she first expected.

“So, did you get any other sense of what Colonel Woolf called me for?” Rayna asked, in between bites of her last biscuit.

“Well, he said that it’s  _ not _ another video, so you can stop worrying about that.” The way Rayna’s shoulders relaxed was incredibly obvious, a relief aided by the fact that the Sergeant was speaking like a normal person for once. “He looked more serious than usual when he gave me the orders to report to you, so I think it might actually be a big deal this time. There’s been lots of murmurs around the crew about supposed Coalition attacks on the outer edges, y’know? You don’t spend much time with the others, so I doubt you would’ve heard about it, doesn’t seem to have caught the media’s fancy yet. They say that entire systems are being attacked out of nowhere, before they have a chance to send off their comships. Imagine how scary that must be, going about your life, enjoying yourself, when suddenly your colony is attacked without the time to even tell others, killed without warning or taken prisoner to who knows where? Course, it could just be pirates, it is the outer edges after all, but it feels like the Coalition to me, they say that the theft was mostly of military tech, pirates would’ve grabbed more wealth and they probably wouldn’t have kidnapped as many people. It’s only been 5 years since the war, we shouldn’t have let them off so easy last time. If we’d just kept pushing towards the end, we could’ve forced them to disband entirely instead of leaving them with half their territory, it should’ve been obvious that they’d try and strike back eventually. Y’know, my parent was an Admiral in the war and—”

The girl’s rambling did not end once she got onto a subject she was interested in and evidently, this was one of them. Rayna took the news of possible Coalition attacks with a grain of salt — there was no way they had the resources or tech to fight the UNION so soon, after all — but her mood quickly soured once the girl started talking about what they should’ve done in the war. It was frustrating to hear her talk spout off about how they should’ve acted when she hadn’t been there. She couldn’t blame the girl, from the outside, it  _ was _ confusing why the UNION would forge a truce with the Coalition given how vile they were, but thinking about the idea of having to fight even more years of that war dredged up memories she didn’t enjoy thinking about.

###

The war had never been fun, especially after the opening weeks ended and the amazement of fighting in a giant robot for the future of humanity began to wear off. Rayna had been a 15 year old when she entered the Air Force and she was 18 by the time she left it. She fundamentally changed in that time. Where she’d started as a cheerful girl, desperate to make her mark on the world, she ended far more solemnly, willing to fighting another battle but never eager to. The nickname she had picked up, ‘The UNION’s Eulogist’, was perfectly apt. She had killed 1.3 people per day on average, a number not seen for centuries, and she carried every single death with her from system to system. She wasn't ashamed at having killed any of them, she fully believed that the UNION’s cause was just and hadn’t harmed a single civilian, but she wasn't so callous as to write off enemy troops just because they fought for the wrong side. Her idealism had its limits, but she fought  _ because _ she believed in the value of people, and that only made each kill harder.

By the war’s final weeks, she was struggling to keep going. As noble as the fight continued to be, it was hard to come back from the fact that she had started seeing serious visions in her sleep after passing the 1000th death. Without Alex, she would’ve fallen apart.

Her best friend since they were 10, Alex had been thrust into the Air Force at the same time, and together they’d become two of the UNION’s best pilots. Whenever a comrade or friend died, the pair was always able to lean on one another for support. Alex was a very motherly type, and though they had initially become friends after Rayna protected them from bullying in the Foundation, they were always the one to comfort her once they’d grown close. One phrase of theirs constantly kept Rayna going even in the toughest of times, “A tree on Terra can’t stand on its own, it needs roots, and a person can stand on their own, they need friends”. With the promise of Alex’s smiling face whenever she made it back to base, Rayna was able to get through the worst of days.

Until the final push occurred, that was. With almost half of the Coalition’s territory occupied, the UNION conducted one last attack on their most powerful systems on May 29th, 486 GHE. A week later, they had surrendered, with around half of their territory declaring allegiance to the UNION while the others were permitted to remain within the Coalition following disarmament. The dominant Social Humanist Party praised this as the most ideal outcome of the war, acting as if this peace would guarantee a free and happy future for humanity, while the Absolute Unity Party expressed frustration that the military hadn’t gone further and disbanded the Coalition once-and-for-all.

Unfortunately, aside from a couple of fringe groups, no one thought to ask “what was the cost of that final attack?” beyond a trace idea of respect for the fallen. The most deadly battle of the entire war, over 50 million people died that week and Rayna’s life was irrevocably changed as Alex went MIA, never seen since, with their crushed cockpit the only remaining evidence of what happened to them, even their Homunculus totally absent. Having made it through so much of the war on the back of their friendship, Rayna had once again changed. Her post-war interviews became were more fiery, questioning the higher-ups who demanded they finish the war quickly with no concern for the human lives at stake. It wasn't long before she was stationed at the Unity Colony.

The night terrors only increased after the war, with Alex’s embrace nowhere to be found. Rayna’s wish of confessing to them once the fighting finished was never able to come true, nor would the many plans they’d made about what they’d do together once peacetime came. With her Atlas gone, the entire weight of those she killed came crashing down on her and it had taken years to come close to lifting that mass back up.

###

“...Captain, are you alright? Why are you crying?” the Sergeant asked, a concerned look on her face.

“I just thought about some things from the war, that’s all Sergeant”, Rayna replied, her voice still shaky as she wiped the tears off her face. “I’m going to go home until I need to report to HQ, stay safe.” For all her annoyance towards the girl, she meant those last words wholeheartedly; no one deserved to go through what she had.

Upon returning home, she immediately looked at the clock, hoping there wasn't long left in the day. It was only 1:30. It was surprising that it was even that late given how little she had done thus far. Her day was already off to a bad start, so she had no reason to fear the meeting; she was more worried about how she’d distract herself in the interim.

After an hour or two of lazily turning on her bed, trying to fall asleep for a while with little luck, she turned on the display, hoping to get a bit more news about these supposed attacks on the outer edges. Sergeant L’rath had told her that the media wasn't reporting on it, but she had hope there’d be some useful info on what this meeting could be about.

She shouldn’t have. It didn’t take long for a brief report on the attack to appear but unfortunately for Rayna it happened to show the troops who were being sent to investigate the problem. Among them was one young recruit piloting Rayna’s very own Crimson Comet. This sealed the deal. The UNION hadn’t just chewed her up and tossed her to the side, they’d taken her most beloved tool from her and placed it in the hands of someone else while giving her no ability to make use of it. This was unforgivable.

_ I don’t care what this meeting is about,  _ Rayna thought, her hands balling in rage at the situation,  _ but I’m going to tell the Colonel that I’m retiring if they don’t give back my Homunculus and station me someplace where I can actually do something. _

She got up and quickly threw on her uniform. Her tie was crooked and she had a feeling she was missing something, but she didn’t care. Her Homunculus had been stolen from her, Alex had been stolen from her, and she was not in the mood to pay close attention to procedure at the moment.

The very moment she stepped outside of her apartment, everything fell apart.

_ Red alert, red alert. The Unity Colony is under attack. All civilians take shelter. All armed forces, report to your stations. I repeat… _

“Under attack?”, Rayna muttered under her breath. “I don’t see anyth—”.

Before she even finished what she was saying, it became clear what was going on. The loading bays of the colony opened, and in poured Coalition ships and Homunculi. This wasn't just a small force’s worth of troops: multiple ships and dozens of mechs entered all at once. Worryingly, one of the Homunculi clearly belonged to the Nine Mothers; this wasn't a weak assault and it was doubtful that the base could hold them back. Rayna could only assume that other locations in the Solar Sphere were being attacked at the same time given the methodology the Sergeant had mentioned.

Frozen in place, unsure whether or not she wanted to fight for the UNION at the moment, Rayna stood, watching the battle that was beginning to unfold. UNAF Homunculi launched from the other side of the colony, preparing for engagement with the Coalition. They were set to clash in the middle of the colony’s urban district; Rayna knew she had to get there as quickly as she could in order to assist any straggling civilians.

She began running downtown. She remained in great shape in spite of the lack of concern she payed to her appearance and could easily run from her apartment in the housing district to the business district in a few minutes. Right above her head flew one of the Coalition Homunculi. It was an indigo beast — a color which reminded her of a certain someone — and it was absolutely zipping by, far faster than any suits she’d had to fight in the war. This was clearly a custom model.

_ No wonder they’re launching their counterattack now — they’ve developed better Homunculi faster than we’ve been able to, _ she thought as she continued to run.

The indigo model’s shoulder-hatches opened lifted open, immediately launching a volley of missiles. They zipped through the colony, hitting the comships which were preparing to launch. All of a sudden, any chance that other systems would hear about the attack on the Unity Colony disappeared. Rayna could only hope that the higher-ups were in communication with those in the Solar System who still had comships to send, if any of them were still standing, or there’d be no relief for the trapped civilians.

Finally making it to the city center, Rayna spun around, looking for people to help, only to realize that no one was left. Before she had time to ask why that was the case, the battle was brought straight to her. Midnight Shadow, the strongest suit in the colony’s arsenal, sent a barrage of missiles at the indigo-colored Homunculus bearing the insignia of the Nine Mothers. A speedy mech with the ability to totally cloak itself in space, Midnight Shadow was the pride of the UNION’s forces, but it didn’t manage to land a single hit on its purple foe. Immediately after weaving through the barrage, the Coalition’s pilot popped out their cannon and fired off a round, destroying the Shadow’s leg near-instantly and rendering it incapable of standing combat, significantly damaging a thruster at the same time. For the Shadow, this would have to be an aerial battle without the ability to use urban cover, something which immediately put them in a losing position.

The Shadow pulled back, maxing out its remaining thrusters as it desperately attempted to avoid repeated fire from the Coalition’s suit. While Rayna couldn’t see the face of the indigo one’s pilot, she had to imagine it was fairly smug, as they immediately burst after them, catching up in a scant few second and activating their heat lance, thrusting its tip into the Shadow’s neck and using this leverage to slice the head clean off. The lance’s end opened and with a quick jump back, the indigo pilot shot heat rounds into the Shadow’s remaining thrusters. This skirmish was done. All around this fight, other UNION Homunculi went down, with few of the Coalition’s seeing similar defeat. For all intents and purposes, the battle was over and the UNION had lost.

But Rayna had no time to think about what that would mean, or to return to the question of why there were no civilians. As soon as she saw the heat lance activate, and especially after she saw it propel a round, she knew that the pilot had to be Alex. Fortunately for her, it seemed they had recognized her as well, landing the indigo Homunculi — how had she not immediately recognized it as a modified version of the one she’d fought next to so many times? — right in front of Rayna. The cockpit opened and for the first time in 5 years, she saw her best friend.

“It’s been a while, Ray.” Alex spoke first, their usual calming smile resting on their face. “We don’t have the time to catch up in full right now, so hop in, we’ve gotta go. I’ll explain everything on the way out.”

As Alex spoke, Rayna had a dumb and slightly confused smile across her face, but the request to come with them knocked her out of her stupor.

“Wait, you want me to come with you? With the Coalition? Why are you even fighting for them in the first place, Alex? We fought them for 3 years, they committed war crimes, I thought they killed you! I need you to explain what’s going on before we go anywhere.”

Alex sighed, “listen, Ray, I understand that you’re confused right now. All I can say is that we misjudged both the Coalition and the UNION and I need you to trust me on that. I’d never lead you astray, would I?”

Rayna had to admit that they hadn’t misled her before and she wanted to trust them implicitly. But this — this was too much. The Coalition had launched the Great Maternal War by destroying an entire planet full of civilians — whatever problems the UNION had, she couldn’t justify fighting for a group like that. Without an explanation, she simply couldn’t go along with them, no matter how much she’d like to.

Unwilling to wait any longer, Alex simply moved their Homunculus’s hand, picking Rayna without her consent. They gave her a slightly pained look, clearly not happy at having to do so.

“We really don’t have time, Ray,” Alex said as they placed Rayna into an extra seat. “The ship’s about to ferry out the civilians and POWs, after that we’ll be destroying the colony. We have to jump out of the Solar System ASAP or we’ll risk a stray comship coming in. I’m sorry, but you’re coming with me whether you want to or not. I promise I’ll explain later.”

Rayna didn’t question her friend any further — she simply refused to speak. Having sighed upon hearing that the civilians and POWs would be safely carried off-colony, she could only wait to hear the story of how and why all this was happening.

The colony’s entry port shuddered open as the Coalition’s forces made their way to their mothership, military tech and captured people in tow. Reaching the ship, Alex landed inside the docking bay, with dozens of state-of-the-art Homunculi surrounding them. When this cockpit opened, Rayna’s entire life would change. She closed her eyes, unsure what to expect when they next opened.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this! It's actually the prologue of sorts to a novel I'd like to write(though not the one I plan on writing this year) so I'm interested in seeing what people think of it. If anyone reads it at all.


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